WINS don’t get any more fitting or emotional than Tracy The Jet’s romp in today’s $NZ500,000 The Ascent at Addington.
Trainer Jess Tubbs described it as her hardest chapter yet since tragically losing her husband, champion driver Greg Sugars, in April.
This time last year at Addington they shared one of their greatest moments together when champion trotter Just Believe won the Group 1 Dominion Trot.
Now she’s returned to do Greg proud and win one of the richest races of the iconic NZ Cup Week in her own right.
“This is so special,” she said. “It’s been a really hard week, a very emotional week.
“Coming back here where Greg had so many friends and everyone wants to show their respect for him, while trying to win a big race has been very hard.
“I’m just so thrilled we got the result. It’s a relief.”
Tracy The Jet gave Tubbs very little to be worried about in the race after premier Australia driver James Herbertson took the filly to the lead from gate three and let her bowl along.
She cleared out to win by three lengths in a NZ record mile rate of 1min56.8sec for 1980m.
It was her seventh successive win and her ninth win from just 14 starts.
It rewarded passionate Victorian owner Dom Martello for buying a slot in The Ascent so Tracy The Jet could compete.
This was only the second running of The Ascent and Aussies have dominated with the amazing Keayang Zahara thrashing her rivals last year.
Herbertson, a close friend of Tubbs, described the win as the one of the best and most rewarding of his career.
It was an all-Aussie finish with Tracy The Jet beating another Victorian filly, Gatesys Gem, who led and sensibly took the trail on the winner before running a fighting second.
